Episode 8: Listening as Justice: Building Right Relationships at Home and Beyond

In this episode of Goodfaith, hosts Maggie Smith and Stephanie Peddicord welcome Sharon Browning and Brenna McGinnis, co-leaders of the Just Listening initiative. Together, they explore why deep listening isn’t just a social nicety, but a practice rooted in justice, love, and transformation. Through stories, research, and honest reflections on parenting and community, they invite us to consider how genuine listening can ripple out to transform our lives, families, and the wider world—even when it’s challenging, and especially when it feels most urgent.

Key Quotes with Timestamps

1. On the roots of Just Listening “I was… running the pro bono branch of legal services in Philadelphia and realized… even those of us who are engaged deeply in service work and justice work were not listening to each other and didn’t know how…not for want of, really a strong desire to connect, but not really having the skills and also feeling the pressure of time in the work that we do, not taking the time to actually listen to each other.”
   — Sharon Browning [00:03:00]
2. On listening as a radical act “For me, just listening is yes. It’s something…simple that each of us can do, once we kind of learn how to how to engage with one another. And it can be so, so powerful and bring about this beautiful world that’s characterized by justice and love.”
   — Brenna McGinnis [00:11:18]
3. On parenting, mutuality, and power “I have certainly learned more from my children possibly than I even have passed on to them. They are primary teachers for me…There was mutuality in it.”
   — Sharon Browning [00:20:12]
4. On the hardest parts of listening as a parent “My intention for creating that right relationship with my kids has been to notice the moments when, like, they’re telling me something. I’m like, this is not a big deal…And then she says to me, it’s a big deal to me, that helps me click into my listening mode.”
   — Brenna McGinnis [00:22:21]
5. On shifting away from judgment and fear “So much of our parenting, I think, is rooted in our fear, and we don’t know it…We act on our fear and not our love. Love has no condition. It’s not, well, if you do this, I’ll love you. No. It’s I love you as you are.”
   — Sharon Browning [00:31:33]